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by Julian Spivey Last year I embarked on a movie challenge in hopes of seeing some films I’ve never seen and more importantly opening myself up to some kinds of films I likely would never see. The premise is that you have 12 months to watch 12 movies recommended by 12 friends. I don’t often participate in such social media challenges but being a movie buff, I felt this might be an interesting way to get out of my comfort zone a bit when it comes to watching movies. Like in 2023, I have some movies on the list that I’ve always meant to get around to watching but haven’t – most notably the 1962 classic “To Kill a Mockingbird,” which I think I saw the first half of in school but was absent on the day it finished. And there’s some stuff I probably never would’ve gotten around to like Andrzej Wajda’s 1958 Polish film “Ashes and Diamonds.” As I did last year I will write about my thoughts and feelings on each of these films after I have viewed them. Here are the 12 movies recommended to me and the months I’ve assigned myself to watch them: January: “The Wonder” (2022) February: “To Kill a Mockingbird” (1962) March: “Dreamgirls” (2006) April: “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” (2004) May: “21 Jump Street” (2012) June: “Mamma Mia” (2008) July: “City of Angels” (1998) August: “Fried Green Tomatoes” (1991) September: “Ashes and Diamonds” (1958) October: “Clue” (1985) November: “The Intouchables” (2011) December: “The Agony and the Ecstasy” (1965)  Photo: Universal Pictures My 12 Movies Challenge August movie was 1991’s “Fried Green Tomatoes,” which my friend Donna recommended. “Fried Green Tomatoes,” directed by Jon Avnet and based on Fannie Flagg’s 1987 novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café, feels like something of a Southern rite of passage – maybe more so for women than men – but it feels like this type of movie that is beloved by Southern women everywhere and having been raised by a Southern woman something I probably should have seen at some point, but never had. I’m glad Donna recommended it. It may not be as big of a Southern rite of passage as another similar film recommended to me earlier this year, “To Kill a Mockingbird, but it’s the kind of simple, tugging-at-your-heartstrings movie you don’t see enough from cinema these days. We mustn’t lose these slice-of-life stories. The movie opens in modern-day (1991) Alabama with a middle-aged, unhappy, and unfulfilled housewife, Evelyn (Kathy Bates), visiting her husband's sick aunt at a nursing home and developing a friendship with an older woman, Ninny (Jessica Tandy), living at the facility. The friendship between the two blossoms with a story of another friendship, one in the past, and the mark it left on Ninny. It's incredible that at the time of the film’s release, Bates and Tandy were the two most recent Best Actress Oscar winners, Bates for “Misery” and Tandy for “Driving Miss Daisy.” How much of a coup it must have been for the producers of this film to score that casting, even though I’m not sure if Bates would’ve been crowned an Oscar winner at the time of casting/filming. While Bates and Tandy are the reason for the retelling of this story from the past, it is the flashbacks, which, from my point of view, seemed to make up most of the film; I found myself getting lost in more. This friendship between Idgie Threadgoode (Mary Stuart Masterson) and Ruth Jamison (Mary-Louise Parker), born out of tragedy, is a remarkable kinship that is undoubtedly aided by the undertones of homoeroticism between the two. This is a love story between friends on its surface but could easily be viewed as something deeper. The intent seems to be a more profound love than simply best friends. I wonder how many realized this in 1991, and how many realize this now? “Fried Green Tomatoes” is a story and performance film – the kind I find myself returning to as a favorite. All of the glory is in Flagg’s script, which was nominated for an Oscar, and the performances by the cast – most importantly Bates, Tandy, Masterson and Parker. It’s a lovely film that will make you feel.
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